Procedure

How it’s been done?

After the summer, the hyacinths are grubbed and shelved on mesh bins in storage cells where there is a constant temperature of 25°C. Here they are stored until early September; at that time they are planted for forcing which will take up till the end of December. The hyacinths are planted in boxes on a layer of potting soil. After the planting we’ll cover them up with foam. After 4 weeks, the bulbs have a fair amount of roots so the foamcover will be removed. This is a fully automated procedure which we’ve developed ourselves. The foamcover will be used on the next crate.

The piles of mesh bins are then put away in another storage cell. In this cell we simulate the winterperiod, so the flower in the bulb think it’s winter, the temperature in the storage cells will be lowered to 9°C. In this period the bulb gets it’s roots and the flower develops slowly.

After 13 – 15 weeks the hyacinths are transported from the cold room into the greenhouse. The greenhouse is nicely warm and moist and the hyacinths starts to grow. In a period of around 10 days the hyacinths have grown so much that they can be harvested.

After harvesting the hyacinths enter the processing line. Here the flowers are separated from the bulbs, are being rinsed and tied in bunches of five. Last step is to wrap them in special paper, they’re now ready for shipping to the flower auction and/or customers.

Within 24 hours after harvesting the cut flowers hyacinths will be transported to the expedition company where they will be shipped, the same day, to the final customer. Only a small part of the flowers are is being presented at Flora Holland, the flowerauction. At Flora Holland they are sold to traders which sell the flowers to retailers. At last they end up in your beautiful vase, where you can enjoy them for a long time!